Today it was announced that women’s tennis is returning to Queen’s club for the first time in more than 50 years, and whilst I can understand that this is an exciting announcement that brings together the two tennis tours at a high profile location, it feels disappointing to me. I’ve previously loved going to Edgbaston Priory Club to watch some tennis and now what was previously a 500 event (middle tier that can garner a few good stars) is now being bumped down to an ITF level event (not main tour).

The decision feels short-sighted too, I thought there was a big desire to be moving things out of London, spreading things around the country to make the capital slightly less the centre of every god-damn thing. Part of my irritation at this news is no doubt down to a bad experience getting in and out of London this very week, but what’s the point of everything happening in one place when there are great venues across the country?

It’s not even like the ATP tour are particularly keen on this, they’ve said it’s a one-year deal to be reviewed afterwards as they’re worried about the impact on the grass courts. The tournament will take place the week after Roland Garros, so there’s a big question mark over whether any big names are going to attend, given that they will probably be playing in or resting after the Grand Slam.

And the knock on effects continue. Eastbourne, that I have also visited (nice location, but very windy place!), becomes a 250 tournament with big restrictions on entrants, and Surbiton is bumped to who knows where. The LTA say this will improve the experience for visitors and players, and that the aim is to “increase the visibility of tennis in Britain”. By cramming it all in to one city.

I’m confident this is more to do with my mood than reality but it all just feels elitist and causing more problems than it’s fixing.